How to Make a Paper Flower Backdrop: Let's Finish It!

And here we are, at the final part of our How to Make a Giant Paper Flower Backdrop tutorial.  In case you missed it, learn how to make all the other flowers for this backdrop in Part One and Part Two.

Paper Flower Dessert Table Backdrop

Today we'll learn how to make the last flower, what I call the Rolled Cone Flower.  As before, you'll need more of that roll of paper, scissors, and a glue gun.  Tape is handy for this one, too, but not necessary.

This is what I mean by Rolled Cone Flower:

These are incredibly easy, and you can make them very large.  This is good for two reasons.  First, because the large scale is dramatic.  Second, the larger your flowers are, the fewer you have to make!

First, cut your petals.  They should look like slightly tapered U shapes (narrower at the top of the U).  But don't knock yourself out worrying about getting it just right.  Rhatever you cut will be just fine.  Really.

Roll each petal into a cone, and secure with tape or hot glue.  Tape is faster, but the glue gun works just as well.

Arrange the cones so that they form a circle, with the points meeting in the middle.  I usually used six for each flower, but it really depends on the size of your petals.  Use as many as you need.  Glue together using the glue gun.

Make a fringe flower center, if desired, and glue to the center of the flower.

The only other element on the backdrop were the leaves.  These were insanely simple to make, and were great filler.  I used a lot of leaves.

The instructions for these are pretty darn obvious.  Cut out leaf shape.  Fold in half to give some dimension.  Voila, leaves!


You've done the grunt work--now let's see it all come together into a thing of beauty.  To make the paper flower backdrop, you'll need:

• your trusty glue gun
• your mountains of paper flowers
• a 4 x 8 sheet of foam insulation sheeting from your local Lowes or Home Depot

The foam insulating sheet is lightweight, easily can be cut to whatever size or shape you want, and is very inexpensive.  I think I paid about $6.50 for mine.

Now all you need to do is use your glue gun and start sticking on those flowers!

Use the leaves to fill in the cracks between the flowers.  A little bit of the Styrofoam will still be visible, but when you're doing a white-on-white background like this, it just looks like part of the design.  If you were to do this project in a different color (I'd love to try it with wrapping paper!) I'd paint or cover the Styrofoam first.

I hope you've enjoyed learning how I made the backdrop for the Secret Garden baby shower.  I can imagine a ton of other applications for this type of project.  The most incredible photobooth backdrop ever?  cover cardboard columns and arches to make an insanely beautiful focal point for a wedding ceremony?  Me, I'm planning to re-use the backdrop as an art piece in my bedroom, whenever I get around to re-painting the awful purple sponge painting left behind by the previous owners.